


Quantifiable Love

by ganymedejam



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Other, Reader-Insert, Robot/Human Relationships, Romance, Self-Insert, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24242989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ganymedejam/pseuds/ganymedejam
Summary: “You don’t have to grapple towards me every time!” / “I don’t have to, but I want to get to you faster!”A collection of moments exploring some of the feelings between a Legend!Reader and Pathfinder. Reader is gender neutral.
Relationships: Pathfinder (Apex Legends)/Reader, Pathfinder (Apex Legends)/You
Comments: 24
Kudos: 82





	Quantifiable Love

**Author's Note:**

> Played through Titanfall 2 again. Forgot how much I loved BT (and cried about him!), and forgot how many sweet MRVNs were around in that game. I immediately felt bad every time I accidentally killed one. Inspired by one of BT’s lines about love as an emotion, which you will see later.
> 
> Always wanted to make a Pathfinder romance fic so here's my shameless, nondescript self-insert. If y'all read these please comment with prompts that I could do if you enjoy my writing!

When you first entered the Apex Games, you already had a good idea as to what the other Legends were like. Being the new person in a squad lineup is never fun; bets are low and teamwork can potentially be a disaster. Thankfully, the first team draw landed you with Pathfinder and Lifeline. You weren’t surprised that Pathfinder behaved differently from other MRVNs. What surprised you was how much warmer he was in person than seeing him on the match streams.

  
  


He lined up with you on the dropship’s launch bay and waved excitedly at you, an emoji with a bright smile flashing across his chest screen, “Hello, friend! I’m Pathfinder! We’re going to do great!”

You couldn’t help but smile and wave back at him, “Nice to meet you. And thanks, but … this is my first match and the standings say otherwise.”

The launch bay lurched open and your team were lowered down to prepare for the drop. Pathfinder nodded at you and said, “Yes. You winning has a projected 12% chance. However, the overall skill statistics for Lifeline and myself raises your chances of winning this match alive to 47%!”

You laughed. “Alright. I’ll try not to slow you down.” 

“Oh, you won’t need to worry about that,” Pathfinder replied in a mischievous tone, flexing his arm at you that has the grapple hook attachment and changing the smiling emoji to a grinning devil, “I’ve got my grapple to help you keep up!”

For a split second, butterflies fluttered in your stomach, and you smiled sheepishly at him.

  
  


* * *

If someone had asked Pathfinder what his favorite memory of you is, he would say “All of them!” However, if he had to pick one, he would choose the third match that you both were teamed up together. Incidentally, this would be in one of your top three memories as well.

Looking through your scope, you spied an enemy team split up at the river near Bunker in King’s Canyon, with Pathfinder kneeling next to you. “Path, you see them down there?”

“Yes! Octane. Gibraltar. Crypto.”

You lowered your gun and turned to look at Pathfinder, reaching up to clasp your hand on his shoulder. “Hey…. do you wanna do something stupid?”

Multiple question marks popped up across his screen. “‘Stupid’ as in ‘unintelligent’? Or ‘stupid’ as in the slang expression for ‘fun’?”

You grinned and replied, “Both.”

“I don’t know what you mean, but tell me what you want to do!” he said excitedly, giving you a thumbs up while happy faces bounced everywhere on his chest.

“Okay, look… you’re gonna shoot your zipline down there. Try to aim it near where Octane is.” you told him, drawing a path in the air with your finger tracing where you wanted Pathfinder to go. “We wanna take him out first. He’s the fastest.”

Pathfinder nodded excitedly, urging you to continue. You cleared your throat and asked in a slightly embarrassed tone, “Uh… how do you feel about carrying me on your back while you’re ziplining down?” He squirmed beside you happily, and it reminded you of an excited puppy.

“You’d let me do that for you, friend?!”

Your face blushed a light shade of pink, your cheeks flushed with warmth “... yes. I think it would be really cool? Please?”

“Yes! I like this! Nobody’s ever asked me to carry them!!” he exclaimed, pumping his fists as his chest screen changed to an emoji with bulging heart eyes flashed furiously. You reached out and grabbed his wrists and looked at him straight in his optic with a huge smile, “You’ll hold onto me while I whip out my R-99 and shred them up?”

Path opened his palms up to catch your hands in his, “Sounds like a fantastic idea! I’ve got this!” Fireworks, explosion icons, and party poppers scrolled in ribbons across his chest.

  
  


“Well, what am I supposed to do…” Mirage murmured sadly off to the side.

* * *

As time passes, you become more comfortable with the other Legends. When you’re not in a match, you and Pathfinder always end up being around each other. For you, it’s a certain fondness since he’s always been so welcoming and helpful. For him? He’s never said anything, but he seems to appreciate you treating him as an individual, rather than a machine like most other humans are apt to do when he’s around. 

You both make it a point to say hello first thing in the morning, and to also say goodnight when you're headed off to bed; you both are always the ones to greet each other before anyone else. The screen on his chest always seems to light up with fireworks when you two are teamed up. For all the times you aren’t, his screen flashes with the blue sad face when the teams are announced. He perks up the moment the teams launch, knowing that his mission to win the match is more important than being sad that he can’t team up with you. He knows that there will always be plenty of other matches, and all the time in between them to be with you.

In the beginning, there is a hesitation for you to do any harm to him in the matches since he had been so friendly and supportive. He needed only to confront you once about it. You waited too long to shoot at him from a rooftop, so you missed and he was alerted to your location. Pathfinder grappled up to you before you could escape and pinned you down immediately.

He tilted his head, observing you quizzically, as he said in a matter-of-fact tone “You missed, friend. That was very bad.”

You pulled at his arms in a futile attempt to wriggle out of his grip, but he held your shoulders pinned to the rooftop. You sighed angrily and mumbled, “I know I did.”

“You really should not have missed.”

  
  


“I know.”

  
  


“You should not hold back on me because I will not hold back on you.” He lowered his head, his optic seeming to peer at you intensely, though the yellow smiley face remained on his screen. Pathfinder was silent for a moment, then rose up to pull his right fist back. “Sorry, friend. This is going to hurt.” he said sadly. He swung, knocking you out cold.

After the match, he found you and pressed a cold pack to your head at the spot where he punched you, despite the fact that you had already been to the medical bay for the injury. 

You tried to wave him off, “Pathfinder, you don’t have to do that. I’m fine.” He ignored your gestures and cradled your head with the cold pack gently with one hand.

“We aren’t fighting now. I’m happy to help!”

  
  


* * *

A signal flare for Bangalore’s signature Rolling Thunder dropped at the team’s feet. The edge of the ring was at their backs, a cliff with a sharp drop to their left, and a full team waiting ahead of them. The team had cut them off between reuniting with Wattson at the pass nearby.

“I can’t reach you,” Wattson said through the coms, her voice tinged with worry. You heard her set up her Interceptor Pylon in the background. 

“Copy that, Wattson. Just keep low, okay?” you replied. You turned to Pathfinder as the strike missiles could be heard screaming down from above. “Well… we’re fucked, aren’t we, Path?”

Pathfinder was looking elsewhere, scanning the terrain. He seemed pleased with what he saw as his chest lit up with a laughing emoji. “Not yet! Do you trust me?” he exclaimed.

“Well, yes? What are you thinking?” you replied nervously, your eyes searching for something in his optic, which he obviously could not express.

He suddenly grabbed the back of your jacket and hoisted you up in the air, “No time to explain!” Pathfinder said gleefully as he threw you off the edge of the cliff. You screamed a string of curses as you fell and Pathfinder jumped with you. He extended his arm and the sound of his grapple whistled through the air, anchoring itself high on a large evergreen tree growing near the cliff’s edge. You felt his free arm curl around your torso as he held you close to him while he controlled the swing of the grapple with ease. 

You managed to catch a glance at him, and the moment was ridiculously like an action movie scene: the setting sun shining off his blue painted chassis, a “mind blown” animated emoji looping on his screen, hearing his vocals chime out a “Whooooo!” sound while his optic stayed focused on where he wanted to land. Suddenly, you shut your eyes and pressed your face to his shoulder as the vertigo from swinging through the air made your stomach do a few sickening flips--praying that you wouldn’t hurl all over Path.

And wouldn’t you know? You both landed perfectly in Wattson’s ultimate area of effect. Some of the missiles from Bangalore’s ultimate slammed down on the barrier, exploding above in spectacular bursts of fire and shrapnel instantly consumed by the Pylon.

You separated from Pathfinder and stared at him incredulously, mouth agape while trying to process what the hell happened. Pathfinder bounced on his heels excitedly before you. You breathed a sigh of relief and buried your face in your hands. He suddenly got worried about your expression and reached out to gently touch your shoulder, “Friend, are you all right?”

Your body started to shake from the laughter you were trying to contain, but you ended up letting it out anyway until tears were stinging the corners of your eyes. You wiped your wet eyes on your sleeve, your mouth curling into a wide grin. “Cool dudes don’t look at explosions, huh?”

Pathfinder’s screen displayed a large question mark while he thought for a moment. Once he realized the reference, he stood triumphantly with his hands on his hips and the sunglasses emoji ping-ponged across his chest.

  
  


* * *

The first time Pathfinder grapples towards you _inside_ the drop ship, he narrowly misses taking your nose off. You were walking down the hallway to the dining area, preoccupied with rolling your sleeves up to your elbows, when the grapple hook zooms past your face and latches onto the wall next to you. You can’t help but yelp and flinch out of the way instantly, and Pathfinder grapples from another corridor to your side. Your heart is pounding in your chest and a cold sweat washes over you as Pathfinder bounces on heels--can you call those things heels?--once he’s at your side.

“Path, what the hell??” you breath out, wiping your hand across your forehead, “You almost hit me with your grapple hook!”

“Oh, no, I didn’t, [Legend]! I never miss!” he replied, squaring his shoulders proudly.

You sighed, “I know. But why did you grapple?”

“I wanted to say ‘hello’!”

“Okay. Kinda weird, but just remember to warn me next time you do that.” You smiled and patted his arm.

Pathfinder returned your smile with a happy emoji. “I will! I promise!”

  
  


He did promise. He announced it every time he intended to grapple near you, very loudly so you could hear. It happened so many times that the dropship crew just stopped trying to patch the holes in the walls, and Pathfinder chose to ignore all verbal warnings as well. You’ve stopped keeping count.

  
  


* * *

Between Octane’s three day FPS shooter campaign and Caustic working nonstop on some new formula, the noise was getting annoying. A sponsor had graciously gifted you top-of-the-line noise canceling headphones, and the crew had outfitted your quarters with some soundproof padding to help you enjoy some relative peace and quiet in between matches. 

You had curled up on your couch with a blanket, marathoning the new season of your favorite show, when you’ve gotten just the right amount of warm and comfy to make your eyes heavy. You started to nod off not ten minutes into the newest episode when Pathfinder announced down the hallway, “I’m grappling, [Legend]!” However, the dropship lurched unexpectedly due to large atmospheric turbulence and the grappling hook ended up landing a couple inches off target--right into the glass framed poster of your favorite vintage movie.

Hearing the glass shatter made you lurch up, rolling off the couch and slamming onto the floor. While you were busy disentangling yourself from your blanket, Pathfinder had retracted his grapple, rushed in and begun examining the damaged poster worriedly. 

“Oh no, I’m so sorry friend! I missed this time…” he said sadly as he pulled the frame down and started to clean up the shards of glass around. An emoji with watery eyes appeared on his chest. You got up and sighed, tossing the blanket and your headphones on the couch. You smoothed the wrinkles out of your clothes as you approached Pathfinder while he had tossed the glass into a nearby trash can.

“Path, it’s fine. I can just replace it. Don’t worry.” you said as you took the frame away and set it down on your desk. You thought for a moment, running a hand through your hair, then finally said, “You don’t have to grapple towards me every time!”

  
  


He tilted his head at you and replied, “I do not have to, but I want to get to you faster!” You looked at him with a confused expression, and asked why. He had to stop and think about how to better explain himself. Once he found something suitable to say, he leaned his head down a little to look at you closer.

“The purpose… of getting to you faster is so that I can maximize my time with you.”

You didn’t know what to say so you blurted out the first thought that came to mind, “I like being around you too!” Pathfinder seemed to sway curiously with his hands clasped together close to his chest, as if he were wanting to hear more. 

A blush crept across your cheeks. You stammered, “Uh… it’s not so much about the quantity of time. More like the quality. You make me feel happy. You’ve always been so kind to me. And… I have a lot of fun with you.” He was bouncing on his heels now, and he reached out to grab your hands. “Yes, good!” he said excitedly, “I have fun with you too! Lots of fun! You’re so nice too!” A blushing smiling emoji appeared on his screen as he pulled you to him, holding your hands carefully as he bent in closer, nearly shoving his optic in your face. “I love you!”

  
  


Your heart skipped a beat as your skin now turned deep red. Laughing nervously, you looked down as you ran your thumb across the back of his hand. “That’s a very serious thing to say. You shouldn’t say it like that.”

“Oh, I am serious! Very!” Pathfinder replied confidently, “The human concept of love requires the following: admiration, attraction, devotion, and respect. I feel all of those things about you, therefore I **_do_** love you!” His screen exploded with a shower of hearts.

You look back up at him, dropping his hands to slide your fingers across the screen as your own heart started beating rapidly in your chest. “How do you know? I mean… how can you quantify it? Have you loved anyone before?” The explosion of hearts shifted to one huge beating heart on the display.

“To answer your questions in order: I know that it is love because it is a good feeling always. I have analyzed various works about love as an emotion and can conclude that’s how I feel about you. Commonly, people express someone you love making you feel as happy as possible, and wanting to be around them all the time and never getting tired of it! That is what I suppose it is to feel love.” He paused, interrupting his answers to ask, “Can I touch you?”

“Wha-what? _What?_ ”

He raised his hands up and motioned to where he wanted to touch you, “Here and here,” he said, pointing to your shoulder and your face. You exhaled quietly, feeling embarrassed for thinking it was something else, then nodded. Pathfinder slid his left hand along your shoulder to the juncture at your neck. His touch was feather light and tickled your skin as his fingers crept up to brush along your jaw and the back of your ear. The other hand gingerly moved the hair away from your face and cradled your cheek in his palm.

  
  


“I like being around you. You’re warm and soft and squishy!” He continued, “I have loved other humans before, based on this metric.” and Pathfinder’s voice dropped to a hushed, sad tone. “They stopped loving me because I am not warm.” His thumb traced the corner of your mouth. “I can’t kiss you. I don’t have a body that you can embrace easily. These are things that humans miss.”

  
  


You moved one hand from his chest to wrap one arm around him to pull him into a hug, and the other reached up to touch the outline of his optic. “Path… that sounds so sad. I’m so, so sorry…” Pathfinder moved to curl one arm across your back in return and observed you as your eyes flickered back and forth, trying to find the right thing to say.

“You… can’t kiss me, no. There are some things that you can’t do. Maybe that’s why the ones before had to stop. I don’t know. But you know… I-I love you too.” You swallowed hard as your heartbeat faster out of nervousness from not being used to having to be so vocal about emotions. But he was a MRVN and the situation called for a certain amount of delicacy. “I fell in love with you. It’s been a long time now. You always made me smile and you’ve always taken care of me. You were there to guide me from the get-go and helped me toughen up to get through the Games.”

Pathfinder smoothed his hand across your shoulder blades as he listened intently, his chest screen cycling through a wide array of emoji now. “I loved that even after we’d fight, even after it was brutal, we could come back and do nice things for each other. I’m… glad that you always wanted to be around me.”

“You love me too?” he asked, with a hint of hushed excitement in his voice. You smiled at him and pulled him into the tightest hug you can imagine, “You may not be able to kiss me, but I can kiss you and we can hug all we want. And we can still touch all we want. And we can do and say everything that we need to for each other. That should be love, right?”

He rumbled happily and returned your hug, raising you off your feet and squishing you to his chassis. “Yes! Love! Yes, this is great!” Pathfinder held you like that for as long as he could, until you started to wiggle in his arms from getting sore. He set you back down on your feet and cupped your face in his hands while leaning his head down to stare at you, and said, “I do wish I had a mouth right now so I could kiss you! I really want to kiss you!”

“Lemme kiss you,” you whispered, and pressed your lips to the rim of his optic. A nonverbal sound erupted from him, like a mechanical squeal, and the ‘mind blown’ emoji appeared on his chest. 

“Oh! Oh! Yes, I forgot. _You_ can kiss _me_! And _I_ can touch _you_!” Pathfinder said gleefully, ghosting his fingers across your lips. He paused and his screen darkened to a devil emoji, the sound of his voice dropping low, “Yes, I can touch you wherever you want, whenever you want me to.”


End file.
